Generally, a fluorescent lamp is illuminated by being applied with an alternating current of about 100 to 1,500V. On the other hand, a tubular light emitting diode (LED) lamp is developed to substitute the conventional fluorescent lamp, and an alternating current is input to a switching mode power supply (SMPS) to be converted to a direct current, and then the converted direct current is applied to the tubular LED, and thereby the light emitting diode emits light using the direct current.
As such, since the LED is a semiconductor using a direct current, and life span of the LED may be decreased or malfunction may occur when an alternating current which is generally applied to a fluorescent lamp is applied thereto.
For example, if a base which is similar to a base of a fluorescent lamp is used to the LED lamp, a general user may confuse the LED lamp with the fluorescent lamp and thus connects the LED lamp to a socket for a fluorescent lamp, and this may cause problems. In order to solve this problem, a method of forming a base for the LED lamp to be differentiable from a conventional base of a fluorescent lamp has been introduced.
In addition, although a shape of the base for the LED lamp is configured to be different from the base of the fluorescent lamp, if the base has a shape and structure which can be connected to the socket of the fluorescent lamp, an alternating current may be applied to the LED, and this may cause the similar problem.